This page is for local people to share their poems. It was originally created when the 2020 midsummer festival was cancelled.
However, we would like to keep the poetry alive during (and after) the pandemic and welcome your original entries.
You can send in a text document and an accompanying recording using the Voice Memo or Voice Recorder App on your phone. Please see below for details on how to submit.
Read the 2024 Midsummer Festival Poems (Click to view)
Read the 2023 Midsummer Festival Poems (Click to view)
Read the 2022 Midsummer Festival Poems (Click to view)
Read the 2021 Midsummer Festival Poems (Click to view)
You may be interested in POEMS FOR THE YEAR 2020 Edited by Merryn Williams (Click to view)
| Poems | |
| Once and Future by Ros Bleach | |
| Any Sense of Mystery by John Winterbottom | Come on Spring! by Nick Malden |
| A Late Wasp by Jill Elliot | |
| Autumn Show by Phillipa Hardman | Autumn by Gillian Somerscales |
| Frost Damage by Jane Muir | Snapshots by Ros Bleach |
| A Trick of the Light by Ros Bleach | A Trick of the Light Accompanying Video |
| Holding on ( In praise of a Whitebeam ) by John Winterbottom | A Tesla in the Street by John Winterbottom |
| Lost and Found by Gillian Somerscales | Telescope Turned by Gillian Somerscales |
| 2020 Vision – Deja vu? by Jill Elliott | 2020 Vision – Deja vu? (audio) by Jill Elliott |
| Zooming Home by Jane Spiro | Barn Owl or Gloaming plus picture by Ros Bleach and Imogen Rigden |
| Secret Cat by Jane Spiro | Earth Joins Us by Jane Spiro |
| Wolvercote Trains by Rip Bulkeley | Three LockDown poems (audio) by Jane Spiro |
| Sea Fever as lock-down eases by Sheila Cameron | Time Travel by Phillipa Hardman |
| Otter or Not by Ros Bleach | Otter or Not (audio) by Ros Bleach |
| One Stone Standing by Barbara Payne | |
| Transfer by Jane Muir | Rainy Day by Barbara Payne |
| Devastating Coronavirus by Margaret Broadbent | A canticle of cats by Lorna Logan |
| Calm. Evening. by Paul Surman | Corona Days by Merryn Williams |
| Trapped by Lyra (age 9) | Morning Walk by Sheila Cameron |
| Self Isolation due to the Coronavirus by Alison McDonald | Stained Glass Statements by Merryn Williams |
| Barra Landscape by Jane Muir | Oak in Late Spring by Ros Bleach and Imogen Rigden |
How to submit a poem
Please email your own poems and/or voice recordings to wolvercotepoets@gmail.com.
Please provide the poem ideally as a PDF file (in Word, save as.. and choose the PDF option). You can send us a Word document and we will convert it for you if required.
Please put your name at the bottom of the poem.
Please use a typeface of at least 14pt so that it can be read on smartphones.
One poem per file, please.
You are welcome to add pictures or illustrations to the text but these must be contained within the document.
Please could the name of your file include your name, the poem’s name and a date if possible. e.g. Jane Smith-Daffodils-2020.pdf (text) or Jane Smith-All Day Alone-2020.m4a (most audio apps on mobile phones work OK).